John Butler

John Butler (1728-13 May 1796) was a Colonel in the British Army who led Butler's Rangers, a loyalist formation, during the American Revolutionary War. Butler, born in Connecticut, left for British Canada and died there in 1796.

Biography
John Butler was born in 1728 in New London, Connecticut, and he was used as an interpreter in the fur trade due to his knowledge of several indigenous languages. Butler served in the French and Indian War, and in 1760 he led the Indians that aided Jeffery Amherst's capture of Montreal. After the war, he returned to the Mohawk Valley in New York, working for William Johnson under the British. In August 1775, he headed to Montreal with other American loyalists to assist the British Army in the American Revolutionary War, taking part in the defense of Canada from the patriots. In July 1778, he perpetrated the Wyoming Massacre against the Americans and the Cherry Valley massacre next year, which his son Walter Butler led. However, in 1779 he was defeated in the Sullivan Expedition and, after the revolution succeeded, Butler moved to Upper Canada. He established the Church of England and the Freemasons in Ontario before he died in 1796.